


Of Golden Light and Faithful Love

by StoryTellingDoc



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-07
Updated: 2015-01-07
Packaged: 2018-03-06 13:35:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3136319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryTellingDoc/pseuds/StoryTellingDoc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor always assumed he and Rose had a strong connection…but what if there’s more than meets the eye to their special bond?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Golden Light and Faithful Love

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Of Golden Light and Faithful Love  
> Rating: Teen  
> Characters: Tenth Doctor, Rose Tyler, Bad Wolf  
> Genre: One-Shot, Angst, Pain (but also redemption and fluff!)  
> Summary: The Doctor always assumed he and Rose had a strong connection…but what if there’s more than meets the eye to their special bond?  
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated to Doctor Who, including (but not exclusive to) the Doctor, Rose Tyler, and the TARDIS. This was written for entertainment purposes only.
> 
> Notes: Originally posted on Tumblr (@tenandrose4ever)

The first time that it happened, he was in a coma-like regenerative sleep state after saving Rose’s life back on the game station. He had fought the necessary rest with every ounce of his being, acutely aware that his pink and yellow human was in more and more danger as time passed. Unfortunately, even his Time Lord physiology could not resist nature’s will, and he fell helplessly into the darkness. His mind floated in the abyss of whispered conversations and flashes of memory as his body recuperated, and the Doctor could do nothing but sit by and wait for the process to complete. That is, until he felt the gentle poke of something nudging into his thoughts. 

_Doctor…_

He furrowed, or rather, he thought he furrowed his brow in concentration as he tried to focus on the strange intrusion. After a moment, he began to believe that it was merely residual energy from his regeneration causing a distortion in time-space, creating the illusion of his name being called. Minutes later, a second, much more insistent plea comes through his sluggish haze, accompanied by a distinct image of a spinning Christmas tree coming through the doorway of the Tyler home.

_Doctor! Help me!_

This time, he was sure it was not imagined. Rose was in trouble, and he had to protect her. A golden rope appeared in the ether of his mind, and without considering the implications of its presence, the Doctor reached out and grabbed hold, pulling himself towards the bright light ahead of him with all his might. His eyes opened, his sonic at the ready, and he quickly dispensed of the killer Christmas tree before collapsing immediately into unconsciousness once more, his energy spent. Later, when he had fully recovered and had convinced Rose to join his new self on the TARDIS, he ran a quick diagnostic on himself and found nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging, he chalked it up to the still unknown aspects of regeneration and promptly forgot about it. 

The second time it happened, they were in 19th Century Scotland, having met Queen Victoria after landing the TARDIS in a large field. They were still feeling each other out, he and Rose, and although on the surface they were friendly and chatty, the tension that had begun to build between them from the kiss he shared with Cassandra was clearly evident. Despite his new form and tendency to prattle on about random knowledge and trivia, he shared one trait with his old blue-eyed and big-eared self. He still felt a certain amount of hesitancy when it came to his feelings towards his young companion, and it was something he was not yet prepared to address. As a result, he brushed it off as a by-product of his excitement when she asked him about it, and quickly tried to distract her with a long dissertation on the benefits of technology for extension of health and life on New Earth. He had run his hand roughly through his hair when he spotted the dimming of her eyes at his refusal to touch on the subject, but before he could muster up the courage to talk about it, she had muttered an excuse about drying off and disappeared into her room. 

By the time that they had arrived in Scotland, it seemed Rose had decided to forgive and forget, and they quickly fell into a flirtatious banter that felt completely natural to them both. Their happy foray into history was thwarted once it was discovered that a werewolf was on the attack, and he found himself frantically searching for Rose when she went missing. It was during the first moments of panic that he saw, or rather, felt it; a beckoning tendril of consciousness drawing him in a very specific direction. The Doctor could almost feel the fear emanating off of the connection in his mind, and he instinctively followed it until it led him to Rose and the others. When they were running from the creature, he had thrown himself into a room after Queen Victoria and was about to shut the door behind him when again, he was stopped in his tracks by what he could only describe as a golden thread of light. It stretched out away from him through the doorway, stopping only when it disappeared into Rose, who was frozen in the hallway in fear. In a flash, he ran over and grabbed her around the waist, ignoring the scent of her shampoo as he swept her back in with the rest of them and slammed the door shut. Although his mind was occupied for the remainder of their encounter with the werewolves on formulating an understanding of the situation and creating a plan of escape, a small part of him remained befuddled by the mysterious visual spectacle that seemed to be attached to Rose. 

As they continued their travels together, the Doctor realized that this phenomenon was not isolated to rare occasions. Instead, once he opened his mind to it, he started noticing the threads all around them, happening in a frequency that seemed to increase over time. It originated in brief moments, ones in which Rose was in some sort of trouble or danger, and the Doctor needed to help her. Then, as they spent more time with one another, he began seeing them each time Rose was around, extending out from her in swirls of yellow glowing strands that touched his mind and gave him insight into her thoughts and emotions. His companion did not seem aware of their connection; it did not appear that the insight was bidirectional. The Doctor reasoned that it was likely his physiology that allowed for accurate interpretation of the signals this light emitted. It became something that was so commonplace he stopped paying attention, at least, until it went away. 

It was just after the disastrous turn of events with Madame de Pompadour. The Doctor had isolated himself from Mickey and Rose to deal with the guilt of yet another promise of salvation broken, and had emerged a day later to find his home cold and dark. Upon further reflection, the light levels in the console room and the rest of the TARDIS had been unchanged, and the temperature regulation had not been tampered with, but the Doctor still felt a distinct shift in the normally comforting ambiance of his timeship. It took him several minutes to realize that the absence he felt was not coming from his ship, and he went looking for Rose in her room. He felt a pang of anxiety mixed with something else when she was not there, and he was forced to search for her in Mickey’s room. His guest’s door was cracked open, and as the Doctor stepped forward to push it open, he froze at the uncertainty he heard in Rose’s voice.

“He’s just hurting, that’s all, Mickey.”

“He left us here! With no way of getting back home!”

“The Doctor would have figured a way back…he wouldn’t do that to us.”

“You mean he wouldn’t do that to you. Of course, I think he just proved you wrong there, didn’t he? Your bloke just rode a horse through a window without even thinkin’ about how that would strand us here on the bloody ship!”

“Mickey…”

“You heard him say it, Rose. There was no way out, and he still went after her. What do you think that says about how he feels about you?”

The Doctor strained to hear Rose’s reply, but silence followed. He maneuvered his line of sight to be able to see her face, and was stunned to see the pain echoed by the single tear falling down her cheek. Knowing there was nothing that he would willingly admit to that would heal the wound he caused, he backed away quietly. For the next two weeks, he suffered through the agonizing loneliness he felt at the loss of their golden connection, and resolved himself to find a way to bring it back.

By the time they arrived in 1950’s London, with his hopes dashed of seeing Elvis perform, the threads had reappeared, although dimmer than they previously were. Now, he knew that the bright lights he saw perpetually around Rose were likely the residual energy from the heart of the TARDIS that he had somehow not managed to remove while he was still in his last body. The energy was bonded to his pink and yellow human like a second skin, and ebbed and flowed with her emotions. He could predict their actions more now; when Rose felt that the two of them were getting on well, they reached out to touch him and form a telepathic link which allowed him to sense all her thoughts. When she withdrew her affection, they dissipated just as quickly, leaving him feeling completely isolated and empty. His body had also come to recognize that he himself had formed an attachment to the same energy, his mind reaching through generations of Time Lord evolution and reigniting a telepathic link he had never expected to share with anyone ever again. It was this bond that fed the radiating rage he expressed when he saw her blank face, and it was that same energy which ultimately brought them back together after he figured things out and saved everyone. When they were leaving in the TARDIS, something about the way Rose glanced over at him made him wonder if she was as unaware of the link as he initially thought she was.

They barely had time to regroup before they landed on the planet circling the black hole. Without warning, a portion of the station collapsed, and it seemed the TARDIS was lost forever. Sitting there, looking gloomily up at the space above their heads, the Doctor found himself staring in wonder at his beautiful companion as she revealed just how wrong he was about her awareness of the energy swirling perpetually around her. Even as they spoke words out loud, the Doctor could hear her innermost thoughts as if Rose was shouting them at him. 

_It’ll be okay, Doctor. We’ll figure things out._

His eyes widened.

_If anyone could find a way out of this place, it’s you. I believe in you._

He couldn’t stop staring into her clear amber eyes, and a slight curve on the corner of her lips told him she knew. Somehow, she knew, and she was harnessing the energy consciously now.

_Don’t you dare blame yourself for this. I made a promise when I agreed to travel with you. We’re in this together._

The affection shining in her smile, as well as the sympathetic tilt of her head as they discussed being stuck together, spoke volumes.

“How?”

She shrugged. “Dunno…it just happened. One minute, I never knew what you were thinking, and the next, I could hear them…your thoughts.”

The Doctor blushed furiously at the idea of Rose being in his head. She sensed this and shook her head with a quiet chuckle.

“I’m not reading your mind, Doctor. It still just comes and goes, yeah? I can’t control it...not yet, anyway,” she reported with a tongue-touched smile.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the pink muscle as it flicked back into her mouth, and his mouth fell open as soon as he lifted his gaze back to meet up with hers, appalled at what she might be hearing from him now. He rapidly shifted his mind into the logistics of determining the length of time it might take for the black hole to devour them, giving his twin hearts something else to beat madly about. The discovery of the new form of communicating with one another was put on pause as he agreed to descend into the pit to help determine what was down there, leaving Rose up top waiting for his return. As she pulled his helmet down and kissed it gently, he could feel the fear hidden beneath the brave front she put on for him and the others. 

_You better come back, Doctor._

_I will. I promise._

Hours later, dangling on what’s left of the rope suspending him in the dark, he was asked if he had a message to relay. 

“If you see her…tell her...”

Still unable to say the words out loud, he reached out with the golden threads in his mind, crossing the expanse of the ground separating the two of them, until he felt her grasp onto him with an iron grip. 

_I…I love you, Rose._

_Oh my god, Doctor! Why are you saying that? What are you going to do?!_

Realizing Rose knew he must be in dire straits to blurt out something so shocking, he breaks the connection, both figuratively and literally.

“Oh, she knows.”

With that, he plunged into the abyss. When he landed on the ground with only mild scratches, and found himself facing a creature claiming to be Satan, he voiced his belief in his love for Rose out loud for the very first time. It was freeing to shout it out, and he gained momentum as he continued his speech. Even after understanding that this creature would make every effort to harm his beloved if he tried to stop him, the Doctor kept his faith and did what he knew was right, letting out a whoop of joy when he discovered the TARDIS laying nearby, securing his escape. His journey back to the escape shuttle to retrieve his companion was the longest he had ever experienced, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that he threw his arms around her and picked her up when she finally reappeared in the doorway of their home. Bidding goodbye to the remaining crew, he cut off the communications and turned towards Rose.

“So…”

She smiled. “So…”

He grinned madly at her for a moment, but his face fell when he spotted the sudden insecurity that spread across her face.

“What? What’s wrong, Rose?”

Her eyes lowered until they were staring at the vicinity of his chin. 

“Did…did you mean what you said down there?”

The Doctor pulled on his earlobe before rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 

“I…er…that is…the situation…”

He froze when Rose took a step forward and touched his cheek, her warm amber eyes looking up into his. He was startled, but not for the reason he expected; he sensed that their minds were now intertwined, the walls he built between them no longer in place, and he didn’t care one bit. Somehow, his lovely Rose had channeled the golden energy into a way for her to reach into his mind, giving her access to his buried emotions. Unlike the calculating dissection that Madame de Pompadour gave his memories, Rose was tender and caring in her handling of him. 

“Tell me, Doctor. Show me.”

Reaching out and placing a hand on either side of her temples, the Doctor brought their foreheads together, touching them and opening his mind. The experience was both overwhelming and liberating, and he struggled to keep the flow of information towards her slow and steady. He stopped abruptly when she gasped at one point, his eyes opening as he drew back in concern, but she held his head in place as she shook her own.

“Don’t. It’s fine…I just…I never knew. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I didn’t think I had the right to love you, Rose. I’ve done horrible things, things that you now know about. How could I allow myself joy after bringing sorrow to so many people?”

She reached up and stroked his thick brown locks, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“It is because of the horrors that you should be loved, my Doctor. Only love can erase the pain and replace it with new memories and inner peace.”

In awe of the boundless wisdom he saw in her face, the Doctor smiled. 

“Does that mean you care for more than just my great hair and nice bum?”

Rose’s mouth fell open and her cheeks turned dark in embarrassment. As he laughed, he pulled her close, bringing their lips just centimeters from each other.

“I love you, Rose Tyler.”

Upon hearing his words, she smiled shyly.

“I love you, Doctor…forever.”

As he closed the distance between the two of them, the golden energy surrounding them and melding into one singular entity, he uttered one single word in reply.

“Forever.”


End file.
